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TOWARDS THE DEVEL0PE3UOT 



UNITARY SCIENCE, 

SCIENCE OF UNIVERSAL ANALOGY. 



BY GEORGE CORSELIUS. 



S ANN ARBOR: 

IT. B. M'CRACKEN, PR1NTE1 
1846. 



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There is an order of truths which deeply concern our welfare, 
and yet have no immediate relation to any worldly views of honor or 
gain. They have a higher use — indeed the highest of all uses — 
that is to enable us to think truly and to act justly. The end of all 
things is use. Whatsoever is not useful, practical, is of no estima- 
tion. All Truth is practical ; and if we regard any truth as merely 
speculative, it only proves that such truth has no home in our affec- 
tions. Thus, to the sensual and worldly minded man, the highest 
truths of philosophy and religion are non-practical — they have no 
relation to any end of his; hence he disregards and rejects them, 
unless indeed he can make merchandise of them, or make them 
minister in some way to the pride of his own understanding. 

The subject of the following essay may, to some minds, appear to 
be of this merely speculative character; when nevertheless, in the 
light of true reason, it cannot appear otherwise than pre-eminently 
practical, as it relates immediately to the true end of man's creation. 
It is the subject of Universal Unity, the Unity of the Sciences, the 
Unity of the Universe, the all-pervading analogies which bind all 
things into a One, and unite that one with its Infinite Cause. 

J beg to premise, that although on this great subject I have nothing 
really new to offer, yet I am aware that it lies in good part out of 
the common field of thought, and involves many truths that may not 
be at once recognized as such. But as respects these, we shall not 
fail to remember that we are yet at an immeasurable distance from 
the ultimate boundary of attainable truth — that our minds are capable 
of indefinite growth — that consequently our views of Truth cannot 
remain fixed ; they must be enlarged and continually renewed, if there 
is any principle of vital growth in our minds. No finite intelligence, 
indeed, can see the truth as it is in itself, in its transcendent glory- 
in the Infinite Mind. Our minds can receive but an obscure and 
feeble image of it This image, if we love the truth and honestly 
pursue it, will become more distinct and better defined, a more ac- 
curate copy of its Divine Original or Prototype. Bearing these facts 
in mind, and putting off the illusion that our present attainments and 
prepossessions are the standard and test of every thing that is or can 
be known, we shall be prepared to pursue our inquiry. It is obvious, 
that on a subject co-extensive with the Universe itself, the most that 
can be done is to present a few hints and suggestions, which, how- 
ever, may open the way for establishing some general principles. 



This Universe in which we are, is not, as some are willing to be- 
lieve, a bundle of shreds and patches, without order or connection of 



parts. Neither is there any thing arbitrary in its adjustments. It 
is the perfect work of the Divine Wisdom ; by the Word of His 
Power are all things upheld, and kept in their appointed order ; except 
so far as man, by the abuse of his freedom, has brought in perver- 
sions ; but even these have their limits and their laws. This Divine 
Logos or Truth, from which the Universe has its birth, is also the 
True Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the 
world. Hence the laws of the outward world are, in their lower 
plane, the counterparts of the laws of our own minds. However 
strangely this announcement may strike the minds of some, we do 
nevertheless, every one of us, every hour of our lives, think and act 
upon the assumption that it is true. The truth of every science rests 
upon the fact of a perfect correspondence between the subjective and 
the objective ; between the world within us, and the world without 
us : and if this correspondence, does not exist, our whole life is an 
illusion, a fantastic dream !** This truth may be illustrated by fa- 
miliar facts. 

Every work that is done by an intelligent being is done for some 
end. To act without an end is to act blindly. Every work of man 
has a purpose in it. It was made for some use, real or imaginary. 
There can be no intelligent action, no work, without a specific pur- 
pose, or end, in the mind of the worker. Take some machine, for 
example, a watch. This little machine has a use ; it was made for 
an end. This end is to tell the time of the day. This being the 
purpose or use of the watch, all its parts, the spring, the cylinder, the 
wheels, and every part of each wheel, and the adjustment of every 
part and of the whole, are made with distinct reference to this end. 
This end is the principle of Unity which pervades the whole ma- 
chine. The watch is a unit, because every part thereof conspires 
to actualize its end or use. The watch is the effect of the purpose 
and the skill of its maker. It existed in his mind before it was 
thrown out and actualized in the world of space and time. Here 
then are three things — the purpose or end of the watch-maker — his 
skill — and the effective operation thence resulting. Or the end, the 
cause, and the effect. Without this trine nothing can exist, and it 
is manifested in every work of man. It is the mind itself of the 
man imaged in his work. The work, as to its end and contrivance 
and all the minutest particulars thereof, corresponds to the intentions 
and ideas of its maker. It is the image, the correspondent, the sym- 
bol of his mind, for the man is in all his work. 

This being the truth as respects the working of our finite and very 
imperfect intelligence, how much more must it hold good in the 
workings of the All -perfect, Infinite Intelligence, who is Order and 

" Suppose this being to be, introduced to the actual creation, — would not the pos- 
sibility of its knowing and comprehending it, arise from the correspondence between 
the outward reality and the ideas within ? Would it not understand the outward 
world, just so far as it had the lavs and archetype within?*' — [Elements of Logic, 
By Henry ft. Tappan. Int. View p. 42. 



Truth itself, and from whom all human intelligence is derived, 
The Creator of the Universe is law and order in its very essence, 
and whatsoever proceeds and exists from him, must proceed and exist 
according to law ; and thus hear a distinct reference to the grand 
design or end of the whole Universe. Now it is, as w r e shall soon 
see, a matter of the greatest importance to know what this grand end 
cr unitary principle of the Universe is, in order that we may rightly 
understand any subject whatever. 

We have observed that whatsoever proceeds from the Divine Wis- 
dom must proceed and exist according to law. The popular notion 
of the first creation having been a chaos, is a simple absurdity. There 
never could or can be any such thing; for disorder itself, moral evil, 
the kingdom of darkness, has its laws, its order, which is simply the 
inversion of true order, and without laio there can be no existence, 
Now what is the office of law? Is it not to distribute, to associate, 
to harmonize indefinite varieties into a one ? All things which stand 
in the order of their creation, by virtue of that order, form a one, 
held together by ineffable harmonies, by mutual uses, by sympathies 
which often send their genial glow through the heart of the humblest 
and least perfect of sincere workers in the cause of truth and good. 
And all beings who have inverted this order in themselves, do like- 
wise form one kingdom, one organic whole, antagonistic to the former, 
but controlled and held in subjection by it. It is a familiar remark 
that crimes and vices are seldom found single, but where one is de- 
liberately persisted in, it soon brings all its kindred with it : And we 
are told that whosoever deliberately breaks one commandment of the 
law has, in reality, broken the whole. The kingdom of darkness, 
though it be a kingdom of selfishness, and therefore of discord and 
bitter conflict and eternal war, is not,- as to its ruling principle, a house 
divided against itself; and he who wilfully confirms himself in one 
evil binds about him the electric chain which shall unite him indis- 
solubly with the whole. This does not by any means imply that all 
who are in evils are equally evil. Every body or organism has one 
life, but this life exists in very different degrees of intensity in diffe- 
rent parts. 

But let us trace this principle of Unity among some of the objects 
of the natural sciences. 

When we begin to study the natural objects around us, w r e soon 
find that all the countless multitude of individual things, associate 
themselves in groups and series of groups, which naturalists describe 
as species, genera, orders, and classes. A very superficial view 
leads us to think of natural things under the three different divisions 
called the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; the objects 
which compose each of these kingdoms having certain common pro- 
perties which class them together, and distinguish them from the 
objects of each of the other kingdoms. Similarity of certain external 
and visible characteristics is the basis of this classification, and of the 
distribution into minor classes, orders, genera and species, of the ob- 



jects of each of these kingdoms. If natural things did not admit 
of this classification, if a principle of unity did not pervade their 
boundless variety, science, it is obvious, would be impossible. But 
by the help of these all-pervading analogies, we are enabled to bring 
an indefinite number of individuals under a single expression.^ It 
is hardly worth while, perhaps, to notice the question which some 
metaphysicians have puzzled themselves with, — whether the law of 
these classifications exists in the human mind, or in external na- 
ture ? Nearly all such questions arise out of the one-sidedness, the 
want of catholicity in the human understanding in its present dark- 
ened state. The principle of classification, of order, of unity, ex- 
ists both in nature and in the mind which contemplates it; just be- 
cause the natural world is, as we have before noticed, a perfect tran- 
script from the world of mind : the world of mind and the world of 
matter, the world of causes and the world of effects, form together 
one Universe. The law and order of the spiritual world, descending 
to a lower plane, or flowing forth into the plane of effects, becomes 
the law and order of the natural world, and is exhibited under the 
conditions of space and time. I know not, indeed I can hardly hope, 
that I should be able to present this truth in such a way that all minds 
could at once see it ; but a brief illustration will show what is meant. 
Take the lowest developement of the law of Universal Unity, the 
ultimate fact of the material world, the law of gravitation and cohe- 
sion, which binds the material Universe together; do we not in this 
observe a perfect analogy and correspondence with the highest truth 
of the spiritual world, even the truth contained in those " two com- 
mandments on which hang all the law and the prophets ?" Let us 
not deny our kindred with this humbler world beneath us. For 



And whence 



" How could the beauty of material things 
So win the heart and work upon the mind. 
Unless like-natured with them ?" 



" That look, so like to feeling, which the bright 
And glorious things of nature ever wear ?" 



We have spoken of the agreement and correspondence between 
the worlds of mind and of nature ; but as the world of mind is in 
the whole, such it is in each of its individuals ; for man, individually, 
as well as in the aggregate , r is, in his normal state, an image and like- 
ness of the Infinite Spirit, in and by whom all things exist. Each 
individual mind, then, must, of necessity, contain within itself, the 
elements of all things which exist without it ; and on this correspon- 
dence, as we have before observed, depends the truth of all human 
science, and the very reality of our life itself. For what could the 
individual man be if he were not in correspondence with the uni- 
verse without him ? Imagine such a being if you can, and see what 

*See note at the end. 



fie will amount to ! What could he know, or do ? It was hence 
that in the ancient wisdom, from which the men of this 19th century 
have yet many things to learn, man was called a microcosm, or uni- 
verse in miniature. This is a truth belonging to the science of uni- 
versal unity which I shall presently attempt to elucidate farther. But 
I wish to dwell a little longer on the analogies of natural objects. 

A principle of unity pervades each of the classes into which the 
objects of natural history are distributed : And there is no violent 
disruption of continuity in passing from one class to another, but a 
gradual transition by intermediates. As Coleridge observes, " the 
metal, in its highest forms of being, is a mute prophecy of the coming 
vegetation, into a mimic semblance of which it chrystalizes ;" and it 
is at length agreed that the transition from the vegetable to the ani- 
mal kingdom is so imperceptible, that it is impossible to separate 
them by a distinct line ; and the different classes and orders in each 
of these kingdoms are, in like manner, connected by ambiguous or 
intermediate natures. Thus says BufTon. " The apes tend to ap- 
proach man ; the bats are the apes of birds which they imitate by 
their flight ; the porcupines, the hedge-hogs, by the quills with which 
they are covered, seem to indicate that plumes can belong to other 
creatures as well as birds ; the armadillos, by their scaly shells, ap- 
proach the tortoise and the crustaceous tribes ; the beavers, by the 
scales of their tails, resemble fishes ; the ant-eaters, by their sort of 
beak or trunk without teeth, and by their long tongue, again remind 
us of the birds ; and finally, the phoca? and the sea-calves, and the 
manatti, form a little body apart, which is the most salient point be- 
fore arriving at the cetaceous tribe." 

Again, we shall find in each genus, both of the animal and vege- 
table kingdoms, one prominent species, in which the distinctive at- 
tributes of the genus exist in their highest perfection. Such is the 
wheat plant among the cereal grasses, the oak among quercine trees, 
the lion and the eagle among rapacious beasts and birds. Around 
this central or pivotal species are grouped, in order, the other species 
of the genus, as they gradually degenerate and depart from the com- 
mon type or pattern, until the distinctive attributes of the genus fade 
away in the ambiguous species, which form the connecting links with 
other genera. 

Let us trace our analogies a little farther. " The most cursory 
inspection," says a judicious wiiter on this subject, " will show that 
the lower orders of creation, all present, in a certain manner, an image 
of man. How strong is the tendency to the human form, for example, 
which is observeable among all the subjects of the animal kingdom, 
and even, though more remotely, among all the subjects of the veg- 
etable kingdom likewise ! The animals which differ most in their 
external shape from man, have, nevertheless, most of the organs 
which are found in the human body, — especially those which are 
most essential to life ; though all display them under endless varie- 
ties ; all have heads, bodies, feet ; in their heads ?.re eyes, noses, 



mouths, ears ; and iri their bodies, hearts, lungs, and other viscera. 
As the animal descends in the scale of existence, the resemblance 
becomes less perfect ; yet most of the species retain the principal 
organs, and where these cease, their place is supplied by something 
analagous, which performs their office in a manner suitable to the 
animal's nature; 

a So, again, the similitude between the animal and vegetable king- 
doms, — the mutual relation which they bear to each other, — is in 
many respects very conspicuous. They melt into each other by such 
imperceptible degrees, that there are animals whose sensitive powers 
are not much greater than those of vegetables, and there are vegeta- 
bles which exhibit such an approximation to sensation, as renders the 
propriety of assigning them to the vegetable kingdom almost a matter 
of doubt. But even those which most decidedly belong to this de- 
partment of nature, exhibit, in a remarkable manner, their affinity to 
the animal kingdom : they display under another form, some of the 
most important attributes of the latter. Not only are they, in com- 
mon with animals, animated by a decided principle of life, — are pro- 
pagated from parents, grow from an obscure germ to maturity, flourish 
in vigor, provide for the continuance of their species, decline and 
die, — sometimes from the agency of disease and sometimes from the 
mere agency of time ; but their life is maintained in an exactly anala- 
gous manner. Trees, and indeed all vegetables, circulate sap, which 
is their blood, through vessels answering to arteries and veins, from 
their root wdiich answers to the heart ; and they inhale and respire 
air, through their leaves, which perform for them the office of lungs. 
And the developement of their sexual system by Linneas has brought 
to light other wonderful analogies. The discoveries of modern sci- 
ence have even gone farther, not only establishing general analogies 
between all animals and all vegetables taken respectively together, 
but between particular classes of animals and particular classes of 
vegetables ; and thus leading to the conclusion, that every individual 
species in the vegetable kingdom has a species answering to it in the 
animal kingdom ; or that certain vegetables are, in their kingdom, 
what certain animals are in theirs ; discharging like functions in re- 
gard to the whole. " # 

These analogies, as we have already intimated, can be traced down 
even into the mineral kingdom. We have referred to the mineral 
productions which, "when left to assume, without constraint, the 
forms most agreeable to their nature, seem to extricate themselves 
from their originally unplastic state, and aspire towards the kingdom 
immediately above them, emulating so exactly the vegetable shape, 
that, judging by this test alone, it would be difficult to determine to 
which province of nature they belong." And the investigations of 
Liebeg have done much to point out the resemblances between the 
laws of chemical affinities, and those of vegetable and animal nutri- 



* Rev. S. Noble. Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, Lect. 3d, 



tion. " But look again at the image of the circulation of the blood, 
and thus of the animal creation which is exhibited in the globe we 
inhabit. No one can inspect the map of an extensive country, and 
the plates representing the venous system of the human body in 
works of anatomy, without being struck by the similarity of form 
between the rivers in the one, and the veins in the other ; both rise 
from innumerable minute origins, wander through an infinity of 
small channels which diminish in number and increase in size as 
they respectively coalesce, till they unite in a common trunk which 
carries them to their final goal. Nor is this an analogy which is 
only such to the eye. The water is to the terraqueous globe, in 
some degree, as the blood is to the body i So they are both circulated 
throughout the whole in an analagous manner, though by very dif- 
ferent means. While the heart by its contractions and expansions 
performs this work for the animated frame of man and animals, dis- 
tributing the blood by the arteries to nourish every part of the body, 
and recalling it by the veins ; the mysterious economy of - alternate 
evaporation and condensation accomplishes the same task for the 
insensible frame of the earth;, By this are the waters raised from 
their great storehouse, the Ocean, transported by the clouds, which 
execute the office of the arterial system, to the parts where their fer- 
tilizing agency is required, discharged in showers to irrigate the 
soil, collected again by the rills and rivers as an immense system of 
veins, and so carried back to their common reservoir, to be thrown 
again and again, as long as time shall endure, through the same 
circulation. " # 

We have spoken of the grouping together of individuals and spe- 
cies,— or of the analogies which unite them. But if we analyze an 
individual, for example the human body, we find it made up of sev- 
eral distinct systems or classes of parts, having each its distinct 
function, yet all ministering to the unitary life. We find a digestive 
organism, a sanguineous system, a nervous system, a respiratory 
system, &c. Each of these systems or parts of the human organism, 
has its distinct function, yet all are interactive and mutually depen- 
dent. The nervous system, the sanguineous, the absorbent, have 
each their centres and expansions. The nerves, the blood vessels, 
the absorbents diffuse themselves from their centres to every part of the 
body, and fill every the minutest part with their presence. They 
are distinct at their centres and in their main branches, but in their 
minute ramifications they become blended and assimilated, so that 
their differences can be no longer traced. The arteries are lost in 
the capilary veins and lymphatics, or blended with the nerves in the 
muscular fibre, the glandular structures, and the cellular tissues. — 
We have here, as every where, distinct groups with their centres, 
their expansions, and their transitions into each other: and all co- 
operating in their order, all actuated by the central unitary life, the 

*Rev, §. Noble. Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, Lect 3d. 

2 



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living soul, which, through the brain and its derivations, is omnipre- 
sent in its little world, giving to the material body its form and shape, 
and harmonizing its immense complexity of parts to a living whole. 
Man, the living soul, is a unit. But by this living soul we do no-t 
mean the simple, uncompounded, unsubstantial somewhat, that the 
pschycologists dream of. The human soul, though a unit, is not a 
simple thing without distinction of parts and powers, but an inhnitely 
complex spiritual organism. It has not, according to the acute ana- 
lyst, Dr. Brown, one or two faculties ;oi a dozen or so, according to 
others ; or thirty or forty, according to the elder phrenologists ; but 
its faculties are as numberless as the minute glands in the cortical 
substance of the brain, or as the stars in the heavens, or as the spe- 
cies of things in the world without us. All the boundless variety of 
the outward world has its counterpart here. What is a faculty, but 
the power to know or do some thing? and have the things that we 
are made to know and do ever been counted up? They never have 
been and never will be. Yet in the midst of this endless variety the 
most porfect unity reigns, wherever a human se/ul exists in its tm- 
perverted, normal state. All the affections and faculties of this mmd 
belong to the two essential constituents of the human being, the 
Will and the Understanding ; and these two grand faculties, in their 
Unperverted state, or when restored to true order, act as a one ; what 
the understanding sees as beautiful, and true, and right, the will 
loves as just and good, and this the man loves to do. There is no 
longer a separation of what God hath joined together; there is no' 
longer any conflict or war, but peaceful activity; peace, in its gentle 
might, in its majestic meekness, reigns supreme, and holds the pow- 
ers of darkness and evil in eternal subjection. And this happy state 
of the individual is the image, the exact type, of a true society, of a 
church, a commonwealth, of the universal brotherhood of man, when 
the laws of Universal Unity shall be understood and obeyed. 

We have hitherto dwelt chrefly upon the analogies that exist 
among natural things, in the world of effects. We proceed to con- 
sider briefly a higher order of analogies ; those, namely, that exist 
between things natural and things spiritual ; between the world of 
effects and the world of causes, the world of matter and the world of 
mind. Let us attend a moment to what we should understand by 
the world of effects and the world of causes. 

In the world of nature there are no causes ; — the phrase natural 
cause is a solecism, as much so as cold heat, or dark light. In the 
world of nature are facta, phenomena, arranged in orderly series — 
nothing more. And so far Mr. Hume and Dr. Brown are right. But 
when they assert that we have no other idea of cause than that of 
uniformity of sequences, they assert what is simply untrue. We 
have an idea of cause, of power ; — it is a fundamental verity of rea- 
son itself. But if wc think sanely of causes, we shall think of them 
as belonging to a higher and more interior world than that of nature. 
The rational mind cannot separate from the idea of cause that of in- 



is 

telligence, of will, of personality. The denial of this position involves 
all the absurdities of atheism or pantheism. Man, during his present 
life, belongs to both of these worlds. His mind or spirit belongs to 
the spiritual world, or world of causes. He has rationality and free- 
dom, he can originate motions and effects — effects corresponding with 
his intention and his thought — external, visible effects, which reflect 
and image forth his purpose and his skill ; as we noticed in the ex- 
ample of the time-piece. But his material body, which, in its lower 
plane, presents an image or counterpart of his mind, belongs to the 
natural world, or world of effects. "His spiritual part, which is the 
very man himself, is active ; his natural part is passive ; it goes 
where it is sent, and does what the man commands. The material 
particles of which it is composed, have no predilection for any par- 
ticular form, but have an equal aptitude for any form. They existed 
in innumerable vegetable and animal forms before they were arranged 
in their present positions. It is the living soul, the life whereof is 
from the One Infinite Fountain of Life, which arranges all the ma- 
terial particles into forms corresponding with its own affections and. 
powers. — The end of Education is often said- to be the formation of 
a sound mind in a sound body ; and this is true : for then the man 
is every whit whole: all his faculties and dispositions are harmo- 
nized ; and the material instrument renders a prompt and ready 
obedience to the commands of its owner. He is a unit — a true image 
of order, an image indeed of his Creator. He is a true image of 
what the Universe was before moral evil entered it, or of what the 
Universe may yet be, when it shall have purged off its dross. He 
is such an image because everything in him is brought into order — 
in other words, because he has a sound mind in a sound body — these 
two parts of his being are bronght into exact correspondence. 

The existence cf material things pre-supposes the existence of 
spiritual things, as every effect implies a cause. The whole of Nat- 
ural Theology, so called, is built upon this truth : for, says the learned 
and philosophical apostle, " The invisible things of God, from the 
creation of tke world, are plainly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made." Here it is expressly declared, — and we know it to 
be true — that we have the faculty, if we will use it, of seeing the in- 
finite in the finite, the spiritual in the natural, the cause in the effect. 
It may be seen there ; it is not matter of inference but of intuition. 
The Divine .Creator has, in some degree, impressed an image of 
Himself on all His works. They are living mirrors which reflect, 
more or less imperfectly, the lineaments of His Divine Love and 
Wisdom ; and in this is seen the end and cause of their existence. 

We had occasion to remark at the outset, that the end of all things 
is use ; that every intelligent being has an end in all his work ; and 
we will add that the perfection of every work is in proportion to the 
skill with which all the parts are made to minister to its end ; or, in 
other words, the perfection of every work is in proportion to its unity. 
Is it not so? It was matter of dispute with the learned in the last 



12 

century, whether final causes, or ends, were among the proper objecs 
of philosophical inquiry — a conclusive proof how deeply the mind 
of that age was immersed in sensualism ! Let us hope that the pre- 
sent age is able to think more sanely ; for all the signs of the times 
indicate that the age of materialism, of doubt, and denial, is passing 
away ; and that the age of philosophy and faith is dawning. We 
may at length understand, that if we do not see things from their 
ends and causes, we can know next to nothing about them. What pro- 
gress would the wild man make in acquiring a knowledge of our watch , 
if the consideration of its end or use was excluded from his inquiry ? 
This is the very thing that can enable him to understand what it is, 
and why it is. If we do not recognise an end, a use, in every thing 
which exists, we are so far atheists. In this end or use we have an 
image of the Divine Love or Goodness ; in the arrangements by 
which this end is secured, we have an image of the Divine Wisdom. 
Even in those things in which the order of creation has been deranged 
by the abuse of man's free-agency, we still see that which has refe- 
rence to something which exists in the Creator, though not as an 
image, but as an opposite. For all evil consists in the perversion of 
what is good ; it has no independent ground of existence. 

We conclude therefore that our Creator had an end in the creation 
of this universe ; that, consequently, every individual thing that exists 
has a distinct reference to this end ; and that to this it owes its whole 
significance and use, and, indeed, its very existence ; for surely no- 
thing can be created or permitted to exist without an end, and all 
ends centre in the grand unitary end of the whole creation: — And, 
farther, we conclude, that if we do not know this end of the creation, 
we are in no state to think rationally upon any subject whatever. 
We owe our rationality to this very circumstance, that we are able 
v to understand the true ends and uses of things ; and we can under- 
stand the parts of any thing only by understanding their relation to 
the whole. But a knowledge of the end of the Universe implies a 
knowledge of the attributes of the Creator. Hence all true rationality 
commences from a right knowledge of the true God. And thus we 
conclude that the philosophy (so called) which does not recognize 
the Divine Word as the fountain of all genuine light, is necessarily 
blind or insane. Not such were the philosophies, or forms of truth, 
taught by Phythogoras, by Socrates, by Plato and his genuine fol- 
lowers. They were too humble and too wise to arrogate to them- 
selves the wisdom which they taught. In its shining truths they 
saw, as we see, the light of a long lost golden age — " fragments from 
the wreck of paradise" which had floated down the tide of ages to 
their own time. 

But what is the end of the Divine Creator in this Universe ? It 
may be plainly seen by all who are willing to see, that it is the in- 
definite multiplication of beings made in His image and after His 
likeness, to whom, from the Infinite Fullness of His Divine Love, 
He may communicate the felicities of eternal life. There can be no 



13 

higher created being than man. All below the Creator can be only 
more or less perfect images, in their finite degree, of the Infinite Per- 
fections of His own Divine Love and Wisdom. Doubtless there are 
creatures of a higher order of humanity than we ; beings more per- 
fectly human, truer images of the Divine Perfections, more perfect 
recipients of that life of good and truth which is the essence of un- 
perverted humanity. But they are all parts of the one humanity, 
brethren and equals to the humblest and weakest of sincere and true 
men upon this earth. 

Man, then, is the being for whose sake this universe exists, and 
he exists to satisfy the Divine Love of God ; or in other words, to 
receive from his Creator the endowment of all human perfections 
and happiness. This end is the principle of Unity in the Uni- 
verse. Seen from this point, it bears, in every part, the image of the 
Divine Unity ; because every part and particular has a distinct refe- 
rence to the end for which the whole exists. This end was, of ne- 
cessity, in the Divine Mind, when the Universe, with its infinity of 
objects, was produced, as surely as the watchmaker had his end and 
purpose, when he produced his time-piece. Every thing below man, 
in the order of his creation, exists for the sake of man. The idea of 
man, then, in the Divine Mind, included the idea of everything below 
him ; and he is therefore the medium through which, and from which, 
everything below him was created. We do not, in making this as» 
sertion, forget the fact, that the material world, and numerous races 
of animals, were created, in order of time, before man ; still man was 
the end, the final cause, of the creation, and this end, in the Divine 
Mind, was the medium through which and by which, the lower 
world was first created. Could Creation have been effected without 
an end? could the Infinite Wisdom act blindly ? — But the work of 
creation is still going on. Preservation, we know, is perpetual cre- 
ation. The Universe is re-created at every moment ; and the creative 
energy must, of course, descend through the higher to the lower links 
of the chain. Now that man exists, all the lower tribes of living 
things must derive their life through him. He, being nearest the 
Creator, is the secondary cause, or medium, through which the Uni- 
verse is continually created: Hence all things below him have in 
him their types or patterns ; or they are all images or counterparts 
of some dispositions or qualities in man. And this fact will enable 
us to explain the existence of perverted creations ; the tribes of nox- 
ious and destructive animals and poisonous plants. Can any man 
who thinks sanely, believe that the tiger, the fox, the wolf, the viper, 
the rattle-snake, came directly from the hands of the Creator ; or 
that they could exist until man, by the abuse of his freedom, had 
perverted his own nature, which is the medium through which the 
creative energy reaches the lower links of the chain of being. There 
is nothing in our adorable Creator to which these things correspond, 
except as opposites. He could not intend the creation of such things 
as a part of his plan, any more than he could intend the creation of 



14 

evil men. Bat since man has introduced moral evil into bis lite. 
since he has changed the. truth of God into a lie, and changed the 
life itself he receives from his Maker into selfishness and its long 
train of malignant and destructive passions, it is right and useful that 
he should see the images of his perverted dispositions in the perverted 
and hideous creations about him. Since the tiger principle and the 
viper principle are in man, it is necessary and right that there should 
be tigers and vipers upon the earth. Since man has introduced dis- 
order into his passions and his will, it is right that the etherial media, 
the colorific, electric, and galvanic energies, which are the connecting 
media between spirit and matter, should also be deranged, and through 
them the climates of the earth, and the equilibrium between heat and 
cold. Should we not hesitate to believe that our Creator designed 
so large a part of Africa for a barren and burning desert, generating 
poisonous airs destructive to life ; 

" Where nature breeds, perverse, 
AH monstrous, all prodigious things;" 

Or so large a portion of North America and Asia to be the seats of 
perpetual cold ? Do we not know that in the primeval time, the 
plains of Siberia down to the Northern ocean, were covered with a 
rich tropical vegetation, and vast herds of elephants and other harm- 
less animals, whose bones are yet mingled with the soil ? Doubtless 
the same thing was true of the northern parts of this continent. And 
what has been may be again ; nay, must be. For if the prophecies 
of the Divine word, and the better instincts of humanity, are believed, 
we cannot but conclude that the covenant shall be renewed as of old, 
the state of primeval innocence and wisdom shall be restored upon 
the earth, and endure forever. 

These views will appear to some as an improper blending of natural 
science with Divine Truths. I know it has been the chief employ- 
ment of the learned for a century or two past, to separate what God 
hath joined together ; to separate faith from reason, and charity from 
faith, and science from religion, and man from man, and the Universe 
from God. The work of disintegration has been going on for ages, 
until every thing, science, society with its complex interests, the 
church, and human nature itself, are broken into fragments, and the 
human understanding, belittled by the contemplation of minute ex- 
ternal differences, has become almost incapacitated for the reception 
of interior and universal truths. Thus men 

" Overlook the mass, 
But fasten each on some particular crumb, 
Of doctrine, or belief, or party cause." 

It is right to distinguish all these things, but distinction is not sepa- 
ration — it is the condition of orderly union. It has been my purpose, 
thus far, to show that a principle of Unity reigns amidst the infinite 
variety of God's works ; to show that the universe is one as God is 
one : And since all things form a one, in which each part has its place 



and its use, I have wished to make manifest the* truth that no par- 
ticular thing or science can be properly understood except by a know- 
ledge of the whole, that is, of its end or use. If we do not regard 
every particular science, and every particular thing, under its relation 
to the grand, end of the Universe, or under its relation to our Divine 
Creator, I repeat that we can know next to nothing about it.* What 
could vve know of the parts of any human work, even, if we viewed 
them isolated from the whole and from each other ? What could 
you understand of a segment taken from one of the wheels of a watch, 
if you studied it without any knowledge of the end or use of the ma- 
chine of which it forms a part ? You could see that it was made of 
brass, that it was the segment of a circle with little notches in the 
circumference, and this is just the amount of what infidel, or frag- 
mentary, science can tell you of any subject whatever. We there- 
fore conclude that there can be no genuine knowledge without a grand 
unitary science corresponding with the universe itself, embracing the 
ends and uses of all things, and assigning to every particular science 
its rank and its place. Without this knowledge of the end for which 
all things were made, or of " the chief end of man " to which all su- 
bordinate ends, and the uses of all things below him, ascend, and iii 
which they find their centre, we can know nothing as we ought to 
know. 

The time is coming, and now is, when all knowledge, all truth, 
must be harmonised. Faith and science must no longer be set at 
variance. 

"All Truth is from the Sempiternal Source 
Of Light Divine," 

and it loses its rightful power when broken into hostile fragments. 
The disorder which man has introduced into his nature is reflected 
in all his systems of science as well as of society — in the conflicts of 
nations about disputed rights, and in the strifes of political parties 
and religious sects. But in the midst of all this warfare, the spirit 
of harmony is still at work ; order is gradually arising out of the 
moral chaos ; a clearer perception of the true end of society and of all 
things, is opening in the minds of men. The age of Universal Unity 
is dawning, and streams of heavenly light are beginning to pierce 
the clouds that have gathered about the mind for ages. With think- 
ing men the conviction is common, that we live in a wonderful age 
— an age moved by unprecedented activities, and beginning to be 
controlled by grand and new ideas — ideas apparently new, but in 
reality as old as the earliest revelations of Divine Truth. Great 
Truths, which the evil of man's state had covered over with its black 



*«« Since, then, all things are either caused, or causes — assisting, or being assisted 
— mediately, or immediately,' — and all are related to each other by a natural and 
imperceptible bond, which unites together things the most distant and dissimilar, I 
hold it impossible to know the parts, without knowing the whole; and equally so to 
know the whole, without knowing the parts in detail." — rascal, 



16 

pall, are emerging from their long eclipse, and false institutions and 
perverse societies are troubled by their light in which they can see 
nought but threatening judgments and a consuming fire. It is, to 
the bold and the strong in faith, a time of rich promise, but also a 
time of great present disquiet and mourning to many of the wise and 
good. The good man cannot be happy without a church and a state 
to look up to. He has not that now. He can reverence neither. 
Both the Church and the State are arraigned before the judgment-seat 
of a higher truth than their own, and they have no good defence ! 

It would be interesting to trace some of the manifest bearings of 
this subject of Universal Unity upon every department of human 
thought and action; upon morals and jurisprudence, and civil arid 
religious polity ; upon the church and the commonwealth in all their 
interests and duties ; upon the mental and moral training of the in- 
dividual, and the whole conduct of his life ; and upon the organization 
of industry and commerce. But the limits prescribed to this Essay 
will allow of but a few hints on one or two of these subjects. 

1st. Of the State or Commonwealth. This, as all other things, 
can be understood only from a just view of its end or use. It is in 
the order of Divine Providence that the different races of mankind 
should be distributed into tribes and nations, each distinguished by 
its peculiar characters and genius, and inhabiting a limited portion of 
of the earth's surface. A State is an association of individuals for 
mutual protection, the establishment of justice, the security of freedom, 
and the promotion of the common welfare. A true State or common- 
wealth has respect to all the interests of man, material and moral; 
and regards the former as existing for the sake of the latter. Its life 
is neighborly love, a regard for mutual good, the principle of Christian 
Brotherhood. Every nation is bound, of course, to govern itself by 
those laws of order which shall promote the highest good of all its 
members without distinction ; restrain nothing but disorder, and se- 
cure the most perfect freedom to all commendable and innocent pur- 
poses, thoughts, and actions. The law of Universal Unity embraces 
within its order the law of universal freedom ; for no good is done 
by man except in freedom. A true commonwealth will know no 
other " national honor" than that which is found in deeds of justice 
and good will, and in the virtue, wisdom, and happiness of its people: 
Its members will feel themselves bound together by a common life, 
each caring for all and all for each. There will be little dispute about 
"the rights of man," for these, being involved in the absolute duty 
of all men to do right, will be regarded as unquestionable and Divine ; 
— as the plain teaching of this precept, "All things whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This 
is the great fundamental law of human equality, the Divine expresssion 
of the Unity of the Race. And this unity of the human race depends, 
not as some imagine, upon descent from a common ancestor ; but on 
a common life from the One Infinite Fountain of Love and Wisdom. 



17 

We assert the unity of the race not only on this earth, but in all 
worlds. There is but one humanity in the Universe ; and from the 
life of this one humanity is derived the life and the law of all minor 
associations of mankind, as families, tribes, and nations : and thus 
each nation or society, by being true to the laws of its own well being", 
is in the way of promoting the highest good of the race. 

In such a society party spirit will have a very limited range of 
action. Differences of opinion among those who have in view the 
common good, when tolerated, fade away and are lost in the superior 
light of a practical wisdom, that knows how to harmonise all honest 
differences and make them minister to a more perfect uniom 

Does this order of society suppose a radical change in the nature 
of man ? It is the end of the Divine Providence, and of every dis- 
pensation of grace and truth, to effect this radical change in man's 
nature, and thus restore him to his normal state ; and whatsoever 
teaching or science does not look to this end, is of no estimation. Do 
we see no aspiration towards the state of order indicated above as that 
■of a true society, no developement of the laws of Unity, in the nu- 
merous reforms attempted in all departments of life ? Some indica- 
tions of this tendency we have just noticed. We have observed how 
the disorder which man has introduced into his nature is repeated in 
all the institutions of society, and even in all the kingdoms of nature ; 
and it is a favorite theory of speculative men that these external de- 
rangements are to be rectified only by bringing the internal into order ; 
and they hence discourage what they call external and superficial re- 
forms, until the internal man shall be set right, when external order 
will follow of course, The theory involves a half of truth, which is 
commonly equivalent to a grave error. It is true that the reforma- 
tion of external disorders must proceed from within, but the reforma- 
tion within first manifests itself in attempts to correct the more glaring 
external evils. Creation ascends from the lowest degree to the high- 
est ; after the light has revealed the dry ground and the waters, ap- 
pears the grass bearing seed and the fruit tree bearing fruit, the sun 
yields his living warmth, and the moon and stars their welcome light j 
the waters become prolific, birds enliven the air, and the earth brings 
forth its living creatures ; and at length when all things are prepared 
the Human is manifested, Man appears in the image of his Maker. 
This is the unchangeable law of creation, and in this order must all 
re-formation whether of the individual or of society, take place. And 
very striking have been the changes in this direction since the middle 
of the last century. Need we refer to the astonishing developement 
of the physical sciences and their applications in the industrial arts, 
and the three-fold efficiency thereby given to the hand of labor — to 
the changes favorable to freedom and order, in political institutions — 
to the warfare waged, not without success, against the grosser and 
more destructive vices and oppressions in society ? True it is, that 
seen from a merely natural point of view, the issue of this great con- 
flict between light and darkness appears doubtful. Crime and misery 

3 



II 

appear to be on the increase ; and evil and selfish passions too often 
mingle in the enterprises of humanity, and impair their power, and 
blight their fruits. Yet from all these phenomena of the movement , 
the enlightened friends of progress gather heart and hope. The in- 
flowing light reveals the thoughts of many hearts, and where deep- 
seated and inveterate evils exist, it bringeth not peace upon the earth, 
but a sword. For example, in a society and church so deeply diseased 
as that of France before the revolution — a society in which disorder 
and deadliest crime had become fixed in its permanent institutes, 
while charity and faith had almost perished from the hearts of men 
— could the entrance of new truths revealing these deformities, fail 
to be followed by direst convulsions and fearful crimes ? It is much 
when the evils of man's state and condition are revealed ; when he 
is awakened from his " sleep in the dust of- the earth," though many 
thereby appear to become more desperately wicked, and their awaking 
is but to "shame and everlasting contempt ;" for in this way alone 
can the earth be purged of its evils. The first office of the truth in 
its mission of redemption, is the execution of a judgment by mani- 
festing, in its own light, the quality, of institutions and of men. It 
is this which false societies and evil institutions instinctively dread ; 
hence the restraints and penalties by which they seek to suppress the 
free expression of man's honest convictions. But in spite of all these 
restraints which the Divine Providence, for good ends, permits to 
exist, the truth finds an entrance to the popular mind through ways 
that no human authority can close up. Wherever the Divine Word 
exists, every pure heart and honest mind enkindled by its influence, 
becomes a burning light, and transmits its rays to all within his sphere. 
Thus is knowledge and goodness increased by communication, and 
the darkness dispersed. Of course the grosser external evils of man's 
state and condition are first revealed, and as these are removed, more 
interior evils are brought to light, as man gathers strength to combat 
and subdue them. Let us illustrate this reformatory process by an 
example. One of the external evils which has excited deep and 
anxious attention, and called forth strenuous efforts for its suppression, 
is the use of intoxicating drinks. Therciore interior depravities from 
which this external vice flows, have been little thought of; but the 
vice itself has been combatted almost on its own ground, from motives 
of worldly interest, of honor, of self-respect and natural affection: — 
it has been so combatted against, and with great success, because the 
mass of mankind were incapable of acting from any higher principle. 
The warfare against evils must begin on the ground w r here the natural 
man stands, and from which he can see clearly only gross external 
vices and crimes. When these are removed, he is elevated to a higher 
ground, and evils of a more interior and deadly kind, though less 
revolting in their external aspect, are presented to his view, as defiling 
his soul and warring against his peace ; and so on through all the 
stages of his upward progress, until he attains to his rest. And as 
it js with an individual, so is it with a society. " First is the natural 



19 

man, and afterwards the spiritual." It will' be easy to apply this 
principle of progress to every attempt to realize a better condition of 
humanity — to the efforts in behalf of peace among nations — to the 
warfare against slavery and every form of injustice, and of human 
debasement and misery. The state of celestial Peace, with its inef- 
fable harmonies, its ever joyous activity and freedom, must needs 
foreshadow its coming; must, before its entrance into the World, cast 
a feeble and obscure image of its own heavenly form upon the insti- 
tutions of society and other circumstances of man's external condition. 
And is there no word of prophecy in the fact that a large and growing 
band of hopeful men are laboring to actualize a condition of society 
in which all interests shall be harmonized ; in which the precept 
" Love thy neighbor as thyself," shall be a living fact ; where labor 
shall be attractive and suitably rewarded, and a congenial sphere exist 
for all ? In view of all these efforts of amelioration, may we not "now 
learn a parable of the fig tree ; when its branch is yet tender and 
putteth forth leaves, then know that the summer is nigh." Yes, nigh 
already in its creative influences, though centuries may pass away 
before its confirmed reign shall bless the world — before the Will of 
the Father shall "be done on earth as it is in the heavens." 

2d. Of the Church and Religion. If we regard the laws of Divine 
Order, we shall expect to find here the same variety in unity as exists 
in every part of creation. Unity is admitted to belong to the very 
idea of a true church ; but in what this unity consists is not so well 
understood. It is too commonly confounded with sameness in formulas 
of belief, or forms of polity, or submission to the same external legis- 
lative power. But in these things, mainly, must be manifested that 
boundless variety without which there can be no true and living 
harmony. 

We have seen that the principle of Unity in the Universe and in 
every individual thing therein, is its end or use. A watch, or any 
other work of man, is a unit, because all its parts exist for the sake 
of its end, and conspire to actualize that end ; and this is true of every 
living thing ; of the race of man, and of every thing below him ; and 
it is obviously true of every society of men. The Society is one 
when it has a common end, and each member labors, whether con* 
sciously or unconsciously, to the attainment of that end. The Unity 
of the Church, then, must consist in its recognition of a common end, 
and its sincere and diligent working out of that end. This end is 
the establishment of the Lord's Kingdom in the hearts and minds of 
the human race — the putting away of evil and the doing of good. 
This principle, under whatever variety of forms of religion it exists, 
unites all minds, in whom it reigns, into a one; they have o?iehord, 
one Life ; they are willing subjects of the one Supreme Law of the 
Universe, "brethren in the Lord," and "members one of another." 
This Union embraces all who are in possession of any Divine Truth 
and religiously obey it. The heathen who know hut one precept of 
the Decalogue (and there are none, perhaps, without at least this 



20 

amount of knowledge, else they could not be men,) and observe and 
keep it as a precept of religious obligation, are thereby placed in com- 
munication with all truth, and receive, in their degree, the life of 
heaven : they are thus, in their humble sphere, members of the Lord's 
body, and should not be treated as strangers and aliens. " A bruised 
reed and a dimly burning taper," represent their feeble life, but these 
shall be preserved until the Divine Truth gain its victory. " All 
members have not the same office," and the perfect human form em- 
braces the whole endless variety of the Universe. Take a humbler 
illustration : What is the end of the vine ? Is it not to bear fruit ? 
and we value the vine in proportion to the excellence of it's fruit. Yet 
no part of the vine is precisely like another; and in the whole there 
is not one leaf, nor one blossom, nor one grape, precisely and in all 
respects like another : and m this variety of uses and forms, all con- 
spiring in the one unitary form and use, consist the beauty and ex- 
cellence of the vine. But it has been regarded as a question of great 
difficulty in the church, how to reconcile the existing variety with 
the required unity. The difficulty lies in the principle of selfishness, 
in " the lust of dominion, and the pride of self-derived intelligence." 
This union does not exist simply because the end, on which it de- 
pends, has not been- honestly pursued. The Christian spirit or 
Charity has been wanting. Overlooking this Divine and all-suffi- 
cient bond — " this bond of perfectness " — men have sought to frame 
external and artificial ones to supply its place ; as ingeniously con- 
structed formulas of belief, and systems of polity. But all such at- 
tempts have failed, and ever must. The Temple of the Lord is built, 
not with bricks and bitumen from the plain of Shinar, but of living 
stones from the mountain. In the language of an author as yet fa? 
too little read r 

" When a church is first raised up by the Lord, it is in the begin- 
ning pure, and the members love each other as brethren ; as is known- 1 
from the Primitive Christian Church after the Lord's coming. All 
the sons of the Church at that time lived among themselves as breth- 
ren, and mutually loved each other : but in process of time charity 
diminished and vanished away ; and as charity vanished evils suc- 
ceeded, and with evils falses also insinuated themselves, whence 
arose schisms and heresies. These would never have existed if 
Charity had continued to live and rule. For then they would not 
have called them schisms and heresies, but doctrinals according to 
one's opinion, which they would have left to every one's conscience, 
provided they did not deny principles, that is the Lord, Eternal Life, 
and the Word, and maintained nothing contrary to Divine Order, that 
is, contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue. — Arcana Celes- 
tia, 1834. 

Again : " The doctrine is one where all have mutual love or charit}^. 
Mutual love and charity effects that they should be one, although 
various ; for from things various it makes a one. All, however many 
they arp, even though myriads of myriads, if they are in charity or 



21 

mutual love, they have one end, viz. the common good, the kingdom 
of the Lord, and the Lord Himself; and the varieties in matters of 
doctrine and worship are as the varieties of the senses and viscera 
in man, which contribute to the perfection of the whole. For then 
the Lord, by means of charity, flows in and operates, differently ac- 
cording to the genius of each one, and thus arranges all and every 
one in order, as in heaven so also on earth. — A. C. 1285. 

" All doctrines which are true, regard charity as their fundamental ; 
what is the design of doctrinals but to teach how man should live ? 
The several churches m Christendom are distinguished by their doc- 
trinals, and they hence call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, 
Calvinists, or the Reformed Evangelical Protestants, with many 
others. This distinction of names arises solely from doctrinals, and 
would never have had place, if they had made love to the Lord and 
charity towards the neighbor the principal point of faith. Doctrinals 
would then, be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of 
faith, which true christians would leave to every one according to 
his conscience, and would say from the heart that he is a true chris- 
tian who lives as a christian, or as the Lord teaches. Thus one 
church would be formed out of all these diverse ones, and all disa- 
greements arising from mere doctrinals would vanish, yea, all the 
animosities of one against another would be dissipated in a moment, 
and the kingdom of the Lord would be established on the earth." — 
A. C. 1799. 

Is not this true ? 



Note. — Since the above pages were written I have read with much satisfaction 
the lectures of Professor Q,uinet, of the College of France, on " The Jesuits," and 
on " the Roman Church and Modern Society." Here, as in all the utterances of 
the most advanced minds, we see an earnest aspiration towards a Universal and 
living Unity of the Church and of Humanity. Is not the leading idea of the age,: 
of the New Dispensation of Truth, contained in such expressions as these ? 

" The thought of circumscribing, or despoiling theology, of separating it from 
science, is wholly modern ; for indeed there is but one science, as there is but one 
true religion ; and you cannot depart from the one without departing from the 
other " 

Speaking of the fragments of truth possessed by all nations : 

" The more I discover of these resemblances, the more I perceive every where 
the principles of the same faith, the relics of one vast church which must one day 
recover itself and re-unite what the breath of the times has divided." 

" It will be one of the consequences of the social dogma to raise one's self to that 
height where churches, divided, separated, hostile, may attract each other, and be 
reconciled to each other. * * * If the same church should re-assemble one 
day the tribes dispersed to the four winds, if the members of the human family as- 
pire secretly to be melted into the same compact mass, if the tunic of Christ, for 
which they cast lots on Calvary, should ever re-appear in its integrity,' — I say that 
science accomplishes a good work in entering first into this way of alliance. One 
will have for enemies those who love hatred and division in sacred things. No 
matter ; we must persevere ; it is man who divides, it is God who re-unites." 

" Certes it would be necessary to shut the eyes to the light, not to see that a new 
religious aurora is dawning on the world. * * * Every one pretends to shut it 
up, to circumscribe it, to wall it in, in some particular enclosure ; but this Christ, 
enlarged, renewed, come cut. as it were, a second time from the tomb, docs not 



22 ttffrr 

allow himself so easily to" b'e brought into subjection ; he apportions himself, gives 
himself, communicates himself, to all. The great religious life appears not only in 
Catholicism, but also in Protestantism ; not only in positive faith, but also in Phi- 
losophy. ' ' 

[Classification of Natural Objects. Note to page 6.] 

The distinction between the principle of classification proper to the sensuous un- 
derstanding and that of the rational mind, is not adequately pointed out in the text. 
As observed by James John Garth Wilkinson, in a paper on the grouping of ani- 
mals : " Each walk of nature maybe studied for very different purposes ; but the 
purpose will determine the order into which the knowledge gained during the study 
is distributed; Thus animals may be classed either, 1. To assist the memory ; for 
instance, to enable it to hold together a multitude of facts by virtue of some general 
points of connection ; or, 2. To aid the rational faculties, to strengthen their per- 
ceptions of the order of nature, of man himself, and of the human mind, and of the 
relations in which all things stand to the Creator. Natural History, therefore, as 
a ground, like all the other series in the Universe, may furnish any thing, from a 
bare catalogue, to an order reflecting a profound philosophy. * * * When the 
end proposed in a classification of animals is to fortify the memory and to facilitate 
the record of knowledge, it would seem that similarity of form, and similarity in 
general, may constitute the basis of the classification. On the other hand, when 
the end is of a philosophical character^ when we wish to treat our classification as 
a truth, and to reason from it,, we must have recource to something more vital than 
analogy of form, and in this case, as I hope to show, we must rather consider affi- 
nities of use and character than the resemblances perceptible to the senses. * * * 

" I have before stated, that existing classifications may be likened to Dictionaries 
of animated nature, and the parallel involves an interesting truth. In an ordinary 
Dictionary, the words of a language are brought together by the rule of literal si- 
milarity ; and a mighty convenient thing such a Dictionary is. But in making use 
of language as an instrument of thought, we depart at once from the order of the 
Dictionary ; and in proportion as the subject lifts us into the art of expression, we 
avoid similarities of sound, lest the progressive spiral of ideas should be drawn back 
into a dull round of jingling terms. Now there is just the same difference between 
the present method of the naturalist and the method of nature, that there is between 
a dictionary and a grand composition. The former coheres by a single thread, 
namely, the rule of uniformity ; the latter is a connected tissue of ends, means, 
and uses, and the bond of connection throughout is the harmonious working of the 
parts, all with each, and each with all." 

Mr. W. accordingly proposes a "trial of the principle of affinity of use as a 
ground of classification, in place of similarity of form and structure." This prin- 
ciple leads to the grouping of the domestic animals around the human race ; and 
Mr. W. concludes that of the animated tribes, '* the horse is the prime unit, and 
most allied to man — that he is the head of animated nature. ' ' This scheme of clas- 
sification may be attended with difficulties, but since it is founded in the very truth 
of things, it must ultimately prevail. Says Mr. W. " At all events we see a dis- 
tinct luminous spot. Man and the domestic animals shining as a great light in the 
centre of animated nature. What if it be surrounded, as worlds always are, at 
first, with a dark circumference of chaos and obscurity ; this is the very matter out 
of which order and beauty are to be created. It only shows that, as followers of 
nature, she imposes upon us the same difficulties that she imposes upon herself. 
She works, and we must learn by rational methods. The organization of knowl- 
edge must begin from principles, and be accomplished progressively, precisely as 
the organization of matter begins, and as solar systems are created. We have no 
right to be disappointed, if the one condition of exploring nature consists in follow- 
ing that order which she herself obeys in her operations. 



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